Alcohol and Short-Run Mortality: Evidence from a Modern-Day Prohibition

Kai Barron, Debbie Bradshaw, Charles D. H. Parry, Rob Dorrington, Pam Groenewald, Ria Laubscher and Richard Matzopoulos
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Debbie Bradshaw: SAMRC and University of Cape Town
Charles D. H. Parry: SAMRC and Stellenbosch University
Rob Dorrington: University of Cape Town
Pam Groenewald: SAMRC
Ria Laubscher: SAMRC
Richard Matzopoulos: SAMRC and University of Cape Town

No 273, Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series from CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition

Abstract: On July 13, 2020 a complete nation-wide ban was placed on the sale and transport of alcohol in South Africa. This paper evaluates the impact of this sudden and unexpected five-week alcohol prohibition on mortality due to unnatural causes. We find that the policy reduced the number of unnatural deaths by 21 per day, or approximately 740 over the five-week period. This constitutes a 14% decrease in the total number of deaths due to unnatural causes. We argue that this represents a lower bound on the impact of alcohol on short-run mortality, and underscores the severe influence that alcohol has on society—even in the short-run.

Keywords: alcohol; mortality; economics; health; South Africa; COVID-19; violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-01-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea and nep-law
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rco:dpaper:273

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